Proceedings Of The New York Anti Slavery Convention Held At Utica October 21 And New York Anti Slavery State Society Held At Peterboro October 22 1835 PDF Download

Excerpt from Proceedings of the New York Anti-Slavery Convention: Held at Utica, October 21, and New York Anti-Slavery State Society, Held at Peterboro', October 22, 1835 At 10 o'clock, A. M., the Convention was called to order, by Alvan Stewart, Esq., of Utica, and, on motion, the Hon. Henry Brewster, of Riga, Monroe co., was called to the Chair, and Rev. Oliver Wetmore, of Utica, appointed Secretary. Prayer was then addressed to the Throne of Grace, by the Secretary of the Convention. Alvan Stewart, Esq. of Utica, rose and said, that with the consent of the Convention, he would trespass a few moments upon the time of this numerous and honorable body. Mr. S. said this was the first Convention which had ever assembled in the United States, under such a remarkable state of facts as those which seem to distinguish this from all public bodies of men who have ever met in this land before. For the last forty days, at least three hundred public presses have poured a continued shower of abuse upon the individuals who called this Convention; characterized by a spirit of vengeance and violence, knowing and proposing nothing but the bitterness of invective, and the cruelty of bloody persecution. He said, our enemies have sent their slanders against us, whispering across the diameter of the globe, telling the haughty and sneering minions of absolutism on the other side of the world, that the sons of the Pilgrims had proved recreant to their lofty lineage, unfaithful to their high destiny, untrue to the last hopes of man. Said Mr. S., is it true that the philanthropy which warms our hearts into action for the suffering slave, can exile our patriotism, and prepare our souls for the most heaven daring guilt? Is it true because we feel for bleeding humanity, that it makes us cruel? Can pity produce it? Can love beget hate? Can an affectionate respect and kind feeling for all the human beings whose lot Providence has cast in these twenty-four States, be evidence that we wish to cut the throats of two and a half millions of our white neighbors, friends, brethren and countrymen? Does a generous regard for the injured slave, imply hatred for the master? If so, the converse of the proposition must be true; that to love the master implies hatred to the slave. Neither proposition is true, yet the enemies of this Convention have acted towards us as though these propositions had the assurance of certainty, as much as we have on a clear day at 12 o'clock at noon, that the sun shines on the world. Said Mr. S., we have been proclaimed traitors to our own dear native land, because we love its inhabitants. Our humanity is treason, our philanthrophy is incendiarism, our pity for the convulsive yearnings of down trodden man is fanaticism, our treason is the treason of Franklin and Jay, our fanaticism is the fanaticism of Earl Grey and Lord Brougham, and the majority of the wisest heads in proud old England, our sentiments are those expressed by William Wirt, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson. Our creed is to be found in the two great witnesses of God's revealed will to man, the old and new testaments. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.